Stenciled Cardboard Frames

With so many cardboard boxes and boards that I have at home, I've decided to start making painted frames and mat boards from them - some of them with stencils that I designed for Stencil Girl Products. I also created a new tutorial on how the Pseudo-Squares stencil (available from Stencil Girl Products' website) can be used.

I started with one board from one of the boxes and painted most of the top surface with white gesso. Since the middle will be cut out, I didn't bother to cover it with gesso.

After the gesso is dry, I poured craft acrylic paint (in dark color) directly on top of the board and spread it around with cosmetic sponge wedge.

After I cover most of the gesso with acrylic paint, and before they're completely dry, I throw some water on it and let the drips sit for a minute or so. I used the heat gun to dry some of the paint, and then place a sheet of paper towel over it to pick up all of the water - this removes some of the dark paint off the gesso, creating a splatter effect.

With Pseudo Squares stencil, I start apply the basic shapes all around the edges, creating a frame-like composition.

I then flipped the stencil around to use the different design on top of the first layer of stenciled image.

I used different shades of greens to create gridlike effect.

After I created the kind of effect that I wanted, I mixed together gesso, few drops of yellow acrylic paint and water to create a "wash" to mute down the colors. After I let it sit there for a few seconds, I wiped off most of the wash, leaving some behind.

After the paint was completely dry, I first sprayed it with clear gloss acrylic finish to make the color pop out a little bit more. I then sprayed it again with matte acrylic finish to remove some of the gloss from the surface. If I sprayed it first with matte, it would make the colors duller. I then cut the center out with a box knife as if I was creating a mat board.

I decided that the center hole is too small for most of my artwork, so I cut some more from the center, creating two frames.

I plan to create more painted cardboard frames using the above stenciling techniques and other techniques as well. The above process took me about an hour to create. The Pseudo Squares stencil can be purchased on-line from Stencil Girl Products' website here.

*Full disclosure: Andrew Borloz does receive royalties from the sale of the stencils shown above directly from Stencil Girl Products. No promotional fees were paid to Andrew Borloz for promoting his own stencil designs and others.